Attending a Wedding: Jesus

by koot van wyk (DLitt et Phil; ThD)

Kyungpook National University

Sangju Campus

South Korea

conjoint lecturer for Avondale College

Australia

29 August 2009


Weddings are part of every culture. Friends get married and we all attend their weddings since we were invited. SDA friends get married and we attend their weddings. Wonderful are SDA weddings for there is no alcohol on the wedding. In RSA the so-called champagne toast is done with Appletizer or Grapetizer (red or white). It sparkles just like champagne, but the poison is removed.

SDA foods are very delicious since they are vegetarian, mostly lacto-ovo vegetarian and thus the meal is a big event with lots to offer.

A beef-eater do not miss any beef during a SDA wedding meal. Sahmyook University caters for lacto-ovo vegetarian weddings on Sundays and other holidays and their wedding meals are superb. There are no ham that bothers, seafoods that cause obstruction in eating, no shellfish in the soup. The food is kosher and clean. Smoking is strongly discouraged at an SDA wedding since the SDA church is a non-smoking church.

Jesus was baptized in 27 CE in the Jordan by immersion as adult and not as baby. He went to the desert and was tempted by Satan. He came back and was invited to a wedding with his disciples to Kana.

His mother was also there.

The wine ran out and the mother of Jesus said to Him that they have no wine.

This is a very interesting observation by his mother since in reality, what does it have to do with Jesus if they do not have wine. Did Mary know something the others did not know? It was not His disciples who said this. Did she know about His ability to do a miracle even before the first miracle was performed here at Kana?

Many Christian churches deny total abstinence of alcohol as a Christian principle and value. Instead, they claim that according to this report in John 2, Jesus attended the wedding and He must have drunk also wine at the wedding. Therefore, they try to say that there is nothing wrong with moderate drinking as long as one does not overdo it. Where do you draw the line with "overdo"?

Did Jesus drink at the Kana wedding?

John 2 says nothing that Jesus drank anything. Looking at the detail it rather indicate that He did not. There is the usual explanation that alcohol is like yeast a symbol of sin and therefore the Nazarene vow would also make it for Jesus not fitting to drink alcohol. 

A second reason is that the detail in the text of John 2 indicate that Jesus was not sitting with the guests. Think about it, six large empty jars that could contain 20-30 gallons each were standing next to each other, definitely not in the wedding-hall since people would like to sit in that space. Those jars are outside in the outer-court or courtyard of the house. That is where Jesus is.

Thirdly, when they filled it with water and it turned into the best grapejuice that one can imagine, Edenic for that matter, the headwaiter was not next to Jesus. We expect that he was with the guests and that is why a cup had to be taken to the headwaiter with the guests to taste. Jesus was not drinking with the rest of the wedding guests in the main hall. He was in the courtyard where the empty storage jars were standing. The servant had to walk to the headwaiter to taste.  He was not next to Jesus since the text says that "he [headwaiter] did not know where it was from".

The modern saying is that "friends do not let friends drink and drive" but for SDA's the saying is: "friends do not let friends drink at all".

The word for wine in the Old and New Testament does not always indicate alcoholic beverage. Sometimes it was just grapejuice or grape jam or the like.

They did not have refrigerators to store the grapejuice in and after some days, preparing for the wedding, the grapejuice was not good any longer. That is why the headwaiter was complaining that the grapejuice of Jesus was in an excellent condition and the other guests had enough drink already of the grapejuice that were a bit down, closer to alcohol.

The headwaiter was not saying, this is a better alcohol drink than the one we made.

The negative role of alcohol in society is well known by sociologists, psychologists, medical personnel, and all families that are haunted by an alcoholic in the family.  Jesus will not be a supporter on disruptive instruments that negatively influence society. Therefore, there was no alcohol in the grapejuice.

The Old Testament has a very negative view of alcohol beverages, called strong drink, or wine. When there is a text with positive attitude toward the word wine or drink, one has to know that it was a drink which is merely a juice or a jam.


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